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One thing I'll never understand when it comes to comparisons between SAO and AW in retrospectives is why Accel World gets lambasted for having a weaker second half (god forbid if that's it's greatest shortcoming) than the first while Sword Art Online more or less gets away with having some extremely weak and poorly fit in side story based episodes strewn throughout it's run so far and yet it's this amazing, masterful and sharply adapted anime and it's issues are just conveniently overlooked for the most part by pundits. Not trying to hate on SAO here but to me it's problems as an anime adaptation are way more glaring and problematic to my enjoyment of it than AW's yet AW's comparatively meagre shortcomings get held against it that much more wherever I go.

Honestly the biggest issue with the Noumi arc is that it spans 2 novels and is drawn out in comparison to the prior two which lasted one novel a piece. It's unfortunate that the manner in which they were adapting the show had to result in the Noumi arc taking up the entire second cour.

One thing I'll never understand when it comes to comparisons between SAO and AW in retrospectives is why Accel World gets lambasted for having a weaker second half (god forbid if that's it's greatest shortcoming) than the first while Sword Art Online more or less gets away with having some extremely weak and poorly fit in side story based episodes strewn throughout it's run so far and yet it's this amazing, masterful and sharply adapted anime and it's issues are just conveniently overlooked for the most part by pundits. Not trying to hate on SAO here but to me it's problems as an anime adaptation are way more glaring and problematic to my enjoyment of it than AW's yet AW's comparatively meagre shortcomings get held against it that much more wherever I go.

Well, I personally like both shows quite a bit, but I don't think the issues between the two shows are so directly comparable. The sort of "fragmented" storytelling style in SAO can be a barrier to some, but you can also get used to it. In a way, that fragmented storytelling can also be easier to follow because many of the stories are self-contained (or part of short two or three-episode arcs).

But if you enjoyed AW in its first half primarily due to the interactions with Kuroyukihime (and less for the protagonist Haruyuki), having her largely gone for the second half and replaced by rather big melodrama may not appeal to everyone. Personally it didn't bother me, as I could recognize from the start the reason for the drama and what was going to happen as a result... but this sort of subject matter is clearly not what everyone wanted to see. The fact that it's perceived that so many of the issues could have been more easily solved by simply notifying Kuroyukihime from the start cause some people to see the arc as that much more pointless (or contrived), despite the character development that occurred (and the generally-agreed-to-be strong resolution).

In the end, I think Accel World is in a good place now because of the struggle the characters went through (plenty of room to build on what happened), but I imagine that the narrative won't rely on that sort of contrivance to develop the characters again. And so long as that's the case, I think people will come around and give the show a second chance in any future season.

Well, I personally like both shows quite a bit, but I don't think the issues between the two shows are so directly comparable. The sort of "fragmented" storytelling style in SAO can be a barrier to some, but you can also get used to it. In a way, that fragmented storytelling can also be easier to follow because many of the stories are self-contained (or part of short two or three-episode arcs).

But if you enjoyed AW in its first half primarily due to the interactions with Kuroyukihime (and less for the protagonist Haruyuki), having her largely gone for the second half and replaced by rather big melodrama may not appeal to everyone. Personally it didn't bother me, as I could recognize from the start the reason for the drama and what was going to happen as a result... but this sort of subject matter is clearly not what everyone wanted to see. The fact that it's perceived that so many of the issues could have been more easily solved by simply notifying Kuroyukihime from the start cause some people to see the arc as that much more pointless (or contrived), despite the character development that occurred (and the generally-agreed-to-be strong resolution).

In the end, I think Accel World is in a good place now because of the struggle the characters went through (plenty of room to build on what happened), but I imagine that the narrative won't rely on that sort of contrivance to develop the characters again. And so long as that's the case, I think people will come around and give the show a second chance in any future season.

Well I think one area where I differ from a lot of people when it comes to Haruyuki is that while I recognize him as a very flawed character I don't necessarily think that's a bad thing by default. I think I differ from a lot of people on a lot of shows in that regard though. There seems to be this idea that if a characters manner of dealing with things is clearly flawed that it must be some fault in the writing, but I just never really saw that in this show. Whatever Haru did it was believable for his flawed character in context save maybe for the deliberately exaggerated OVA episode. People look at his mistakes and shortcomings though and seem to treat it as a fault of the writing and bad characterization rather than that just being the script which seems to me to show a great disconnect between what the show is about and what they perceive it to be.

I guess it's sort of the same as the massive hatred for Shinji in Evangelion for example where the point IS that he's an obviously very flawed character who we are observing. Obviously the tone is a little different there and it's a bit more mature, but it's sort of the same operating theory of a main character. This isn't the traditional weak willed protagonist played up for laughs or as a cardboard stand-in to me which is what I think a lot of folks see. This almost looks like a character that's suffering from some form of severe bordering on pathological self-confidence issues that he's struggling to pull himself out of and who has his own character arc going on. Maybe for some this doesn't matter though and it's just that big of a turnoff, but I find that kind of compelling (it helps that he's a really loyal guy that is ultimately dependable in the long run, if he wasn't I'd probably look at him as cardboard male lead), but he could stand to be naked a little less.

Well I think one area where I differ from a lot of people when it comes to Haruyuki is that while I recognize him as a very flawed character I don't necessarily think that's a bad thing by default. I think I differ from a lot of people on a lot of shows in that regard though. There seems to be this idea that if a characters manner of dealing with things is clearly flawed that it must be some fault in the writing, but I just never really saw that in this show. Whatever Haru did it was believable for his flawed character in context save maybe for the deliberately exaggerated OVA episode. People look at his mistakes and shortcomings though and seem to treat it as a fault of the writing and bad characterization rather than that just being the script which seems to me to show a great disconnect between what the show is about and what they perceive it to be.

I guess it's sort of the same as the massive hatred for Shinji in Evangelion for example where the point IS that he's an obviously very flawed character who we are observing. Obviously the tone is a little different there and it's a bit more mature, but it's sort of the same operating theory of a main character. This isn't the traditional weak willed protagonist played up for laughs or as a cardboard stand-in to me which is what I think a lot of folks see. This almost looks like a character that's suffering from some form of severe bordering on pathological self-confidence issues that he's struggling to pull himself out of and who has his own character arc going on. Maybe for some this doesn't matter though and it's just that big of a turnoff, but I find that kind of compelling (it helps that he's a really loyal guy that is ultimately dependable in the long run, if he wasn't I'd probably look at him as cardboard male lead), but he could stand to be naked a little less.

I gotta agree. I thought Haru was a breath of fresh air for a main character.

Male main characters (especially for harem-esque anime) tend to be "perfect" pretty often somehow; bish-looking, kind, sensitive, friendly, etc, yet are somehow shown to be average or lower on the social ladder (mostly with girls). The only real "flaws" ((which is really just for comic relief or (forced) character development on the guy and/or girl(s) these days)) they tend to have are also pretty typical these days and I'm not really sure can be seen as "flaws" anymore; being dense to various degrees to the feelings of the girl(s), being clumsy and ending up in unintentional ecchi situations, and so on.

In the end, a lot of them you just can't really believe are as "low" as the story says they are and it makes them pretty unrelatable.

Haru, however, not only acts the part, but LOOKS the part, so you can actually believe his character and the development that comes from it. And even with his development, you still see hints of his doubt creep up time after time. It's not like he develops something like his courage and then it never, ever comes up again with him never being truly afraid anymore. He constantly second guesses himself and how someone like Kuroyukihime could possibly like someone like him.

So, as mentioned, it's nice to see characters have such flaws. It's only bad if it's over-exaggerated, off-time, etc.

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"I'll show you that a superior mobile suit has its limits when it goes up against a superior pilot!" - Char Aznable, The Red Comet"Come on! I don't feel like losing!" - Johnny Ridden, The Crimson Lightning"Hatred is the root of all war! That's common sense, boy!" - Anavel Gato, The Nightmare of Solomon

Just finally watched the second episode of あくちぇる・ワールド from the second Blu-Ray disc. And oh my god they had a Space Invaders scene. I wonder how many people in the audience actually even know what that is?

Other than that, the entire episode revolved around a pun about "pantsu kure" vs. "pan tsukure" ("Give me your underwear" vs. "Make bread"). Really. Most random bonus feature ever (but as expected from the people who gave us Shana-tan and the like).

Just finally watched the second episode of あくちぇる・ワールド from the second Blu-Ray disc. And oh my god they had a Space Invaders scene. I wonder how many people in the audience actually even know what that is?

Other than that, the entire episode revolved around a pun about "pantsu kure" vs. "pan tsukure" ("Give me your underwear" vs. "Make bread"). Really. Most random bonus feature ever (but as expected from the people who gave us Shana-tan and the like).

Yeah they very much give off the J.C Staff vibe and it does remind me of the Shana-Tan clips. I think the most standout part or I suppose core theme of these is that KYH is completely batshit crazy in them and it's everyone reacting to her whims and ducking for cover and well...that's basically the gist of Acchel World. Also a lot of these are just Sachika Misawa hamming it up for the most part. The rest of the cast is as usual kind of there but KYH is front and center in most of the bits wigging out. I have to admit the idea of her being in larval state kind of amuses me, though I'm not sure what's up with the mustache...then again I'm not sure this is supposed to make any sense and it's some sort of stream of consciousness thing. I guess Taku is the other amusing one just being a total broken down parody of himself.

The fact that it's perceived that so many of the issues could have been more easily solved by simply notifying Kuroyukihime from the start cause some people to see the arc as that much more pointless (or contrived), despite the character development that occurred (and the generally-agreed-to-be strong resolution).

We know that KYH atm is a story-breaker, right? If Haru simply informed her from the start, then the Noumi arc would end too fast, right?

Great, because that means we would get to see the other NN members and the Six Kings right in the first season, yes? Genius. /sarcasm

According to rumors, the S2 will be in the Fall 2013 Anime Line-up alongside To Aru Majutsu no Index S3. Just wait for the official announcement.

Just curious, I've only started following 'new' season anime recently - when is 'Fall 2013'? There's many Falls . I've mostly been watching old anime, but decided then got hooked on Accel World/ SAO.

On the note of S2 of Accel, it seems fairly inevitable that it will happen, else they leave the anime unfinished and risk many people being pissed off - the main objective of Accel was to become king, it has no way near been accomplished yet. I suppose if not enough sales/funding kick in, S2 could be cancelled. Anyone know how likely that would be?

We know that KYH atm is a story-breaker, right? If Haru simply informed her from the start, then the Noumi arc would end too fast, right?

Great, because that means we would get to see the other NN members and the Six Kings right in the first season, yes? Genius. /sarcasm

Well, keep in mind that I wasn't giving my own opinion in that post, simply trying to explain the complaints I've seen others raise. And, to that end, I think the whole thing is that people *wanted* that story arc to end sooner because they didn't enjoy it. If that meant meeting the other members and the Kings (or whatever else), then they might like that. So... I'm not sure what the point of your post was or the sarcasm. Creating a giant crisis out of an issue that would be easily solved by relying on one of the story's main characters may rub some people the wrong way, particularly if they liked the character that's now missing, and they dislike the newly-featured character. I understand the complaint, even though the issue didn't personally bother me that much.